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1930’s

Short Hair and Historical Costuming
1930's, Historical Fashion, Regency, WWI

Short Hair and Historical Costuming

Avoiding the hair issue altogether at the 2018 Jane Austen Evening by wearing a turban.

I have short hair. I’ve always had more-or-less short hair – the longest I’ve ever been able to grow it was just past my shoulders. I used to try to keep it as long as I could for playing vintage dress-up, but on a daily basis it wasn’t cute. My hair is fine, and thin, and really just wants to be short. (On the plus side, it takes a heat curl really well, so I can work some magic with a curling iron.)

The thing is, until recently I also had a wig/fake hair phobia. Things like fake hair and fake nails just really grossed me out and I wanted nothing to do with them. Which is a challenge when you want to participate in historical costuming, because not only does fake hair make it easier when you don’t have much of your own, but it’s also much easier to plop a pre-styled wig on your head than spend hours leading up to an event trying to do an elaborate, archaic hairdo on yourself.

I think (hope!) that I’ve gotten over my fear of fake hair, but I’ve also been having fun this past year experimenting with short historical hairstyles. I plan to do full outfit posts about all these costumes in the near future, but I thought it would be fun to look at just the hairstyles together. Apologies for the poor quality of many of the images – I don’t usually think my hair is anything special so I usually skip close-ups, so most of these photos are cropped down from full length images.

For Friday night at Costume College, I dressed in a French Empire style called a la victime, which was fashioned after the chopped-off hair that the aristocracy had to endure before going under the guillotine. The image on the left was my inspiration (I can’t find the original image source – if you can direct me to it, please let me know!). The center image is the excellent trial that my hairdresser did for me (the great/terrible thing about short hair is that you get to visit your hairdresser often, and mine has been helping me with some of these unusual styles). On the right is my final version from Costume College, which is probably too coiffed and attractive, and I realize that my hair is technically too LONG for this style! I don’t get to say that often.

This set of images is from a couple different nights at Camp Hollywood. Left and center are from “Cabaret Night”, so in a nod to Weimar Berlin I wore a man’s suit and fingerwaved my hair. The photo on the right is from the very next night, when my husband and I participated in a swing dance tribute performance for the 90th anniversary of the Venice Beach Clip. No way am I ever gonna have hair as long and thick as Genevieve Grazis, and no way am I ready for dancing with fake hair, but I can still do some good curl fluff and wear a big bow for the right effect. As a non-hair-person who has had to become somewhat adept with her hair, it blows my mind to look at this set of photos and see that the exact same haircut can produce such different looks.

Irene and Vernon Castle image source from The Whirl of Life (1915).

This final short hair look was what I wore to the Great War Gallop. This style was loosely inspired by Irene Castle, who led the bob trend by chopping off her hair in all the way back in 1914! Again, for this style, I just used a curling iron all over and sculpted my “curl fluff” into an appropriate shape/silhouette for the period.

Do you have short hair? How do you handle it when playing historical dress-up? Are there other short hair icons I should attempt to emulate?

Dustbowl Jeans – HSF #5 (Peasants and Pioneers)
1930's, Everyday Wardrobe, Historical Fashion, Sewing

Dustbowl Jeans – HSF #5 (Peasants and Pioneers)

Last week I finished my entry for the Historical Sew Fortnightly #5 – I’m falling further and further behind! Whoops. I’m taking off for the next couple challenges, maybe I’ll catch up then. Or not. 😉 Either way, I’m still glad to be part of this group because it’s helping me focus on certain projects that have been in the works for way too long!

This entry is inspired by the 1930’s Dust Bowl, which seemed to be a popular theme for this task. I’ve been wanting some vintage-y jeans for a long time and did the pattern work for these last summer, and I plan on living in them until they’re in tatters (which will make them even more “authentic” ;). For this outfit,  I paired them with a feedstack print top for a good 30’s look.

The Challenge: #5 Peasants and Pioneers – As wonderful as making pretty, pretty princess dresses is, the vast majority of people have always been poor commoners, whether they were peasants working the land, servants in big houses, or (later), pioneers carving their own space in new lands. This fortnight let’s make something that celebrates the common man.

Fabric: Lightweight Denim

Pattern: Wearing History’s Smooth Sailing Trousers – modified to be flat-front, and added patch pockets front and back

Year: mid-1930’s

Notions: Thread (blue and contrast yellow), metal zipper

How Historically Accurate is it: More “inspired” than accurate – a few women wore trousers in the 30’s, but jeans like this were really still menswear. The fit is altered to have a higher crotch (not period correct, but much better for movement.) And I used a metal zip instead of my standard invisible, but a button placket would be even better.

Hours to Complete: Maybe 3 for patterning, 10 for sewing & fitting, and 4 for redoing the back pockets several times. So at least 17, and that’s a conservative estimate.

First Worn: Dancing at Atomic Ballroom last Friday

Total Cost: ~$20 for fabric, $5 for thread and zipper

A “1938” Coat – HSF #2 (UFO)
1930's, Historical Sew Fortnightly, Make and Mend, Sewing

A “1938” Coat – HSF #2 (UFO)

Here’s my first entry for the Historical Sew Fortnightly! It’s a couple days late and there’s no fancy photoshoot because I’ve got a cold right now. Looking at the challenges, I think I’m going participate in about half of them and turn it into an Historical Sew Monthly – that pace will work better for me and the projects I want to complete.

Nearly 2 years ago I bought a vintage coat with a ripped and shattering lining. I HATE repairs and alterations, so it’s a sign of how much I love this coat that I was willing to work on it – except that I stopped right before it was done! The project stalled out in Fall 2011, with basically only the buttons and hems to go.

Originally I estimated this coat to be from 1939/40 and I was going to fudge it into this challenge (supposed to be 1938 or earlier), but then I came across this page of overcoats from the Sears 1938 catalog – the navy one has the same details as mine (wide lapels, princess seams, sleeve cap darts), so I definitely think my coat could be from 1938!

The old lining was shredding, so I carefully removed it and traced it off to make a new pattern. I referenced Easy Guide to Sewing Linings for this bit, and even though the process is fairly self-explanatory, the book had some good tips that made the project easier. I also handmade new shoulder pads and had it cleaned and pressed before inserting the new lining.

Outside View – the part I didn’t make. 🙂
Inside View – the part I made!

The Challenge: #2 UFO (UnFinished Object)

Fabric: Burgundy Rayon Satin for the replacement lining

Pattern: Traced off the original coat lining

Year: 1938-ish 😉

Notions: Handmade shoulder pads, replacement buttons, hem tape, thread

How Historically Accurate: Nearly 100%! It helps that I could use a machine and had the original to copy. The only thing that would have been more accurate would be rayon hem tape instead of polyester.

Hours to Complete: Maybe 60 total, about 8 hours for this challenge. I’m super slow!

First Planned Wearing: Saturday February 26, 2013 to the Great LA Air Raid

Total Cost: About $30, not including the purchase of the coat

Fine & Dandy Outfit Challenge

A couple weeks ago Bobby White of Fine & Dandy  and Swungover challenged his readers to present a Fall-to-Summer transitional outfit. I try to confine my outfit posts to things I’ve made or special events, so I took this as a challenge to do a dress revamp that’s been waiting a couple years.

I’ve got a few Loco Lindo dresses that I’ve picked up at sample sales – I love the vintage-y rayon crepe print fabrics so I’m a sucker for grabbing ones that are too big for me with the intention of fixing them. This dress always vibed early 1930’s to me, so I finally got to work at making it wearable. I wore the finished dress out dancing Friday night, and it was so much fun! The skirt length is technically too short for early 30’s, but I’m more comfortable with knee-length anyway.

My new-to-me 30’s watch, picked up at an antique mall last weekend. 
It keeps good time when I remember to wind it!

The original dress was too big in the width and length for me – I raised the shoulders about 2 inches (giving me nice high armholes that are so great for movement and dancing) and turned the front darts into princess seams to remove about 4 inches from the circumference (bodice and skirt). The green neck contrast originally wrapped around as a back neck yoke, but I lost that when I raised the shoulders, so I just added bias tape to finish the back neck.

I also removed the self tie and made it into a belt, and added some matching buttons to add to the 30’s look. After I figured out how to reduce the bodice size, it was an easy revamp –  but I almost didn’t make the submission deadline due to being super sick the last couple weeks, so I gave up some housecleaning to finish the project. I should do that more often! 😉

“I’m Just A Jitterbug”

I’ve fallen off posting about dancing much in the last couple months, but a recent Facebook conversation reminded me that I’ve been meaning to post this article originally published in a 1939 Look Magazine. It shows some “behind the scenes” shots of LA swing dancers who were filmed as inspiration for the Walter Lantz cartoon short “I’m Just a Jitterbug”.


The footage of dancing was rotoscoped for the cartoon (basically traced), which seems to be looked down on by animators, but it’s fun for us dancers, because it’s so true to life. Only 2 couples are shown in the Look article, but from watching the footage we know that Ray Hirsch and Patti Lacey were part of this project too, because we see their signature moves in it!

As was unfortunately common in this era, there are racist and derogatory images included in the article and cartoon. I have included them in this entry because I feel strongly that it is inappropriate to cut them and not recognize the bigotry present.
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Human Jitterbugs Are Models…
For Dancing Insects In an Animated Cartoon

Nobody ever knows what a jitterbug will do next. Even those masters of miracles, the Hollywood animated cartoonists, who cam make pigs dance and ducks talk, couldn’t figure out the jitterbugs.

“When the jitterbug craze hit the country,” says Cartoon Producer Walter Lantz, “we started out to make a jitterbug cartoon. But after making many hundreds of drawings, we realized it was impossible to follow the intricate steps conceived by these dizzy dancers unless we could work from actual jitterbugs in action.”

So Lantz rounded up jitterbug teams, turned them loose in front of a camera, then had animators study them on the movie screen. Even then, the timing problem was too difficult. Finally, each frame of action was projected and a tracing was made of it. Animators then drew the cartoon bugs over the tracings of the dancing teams.

Some of the human models and the cartoon scenes they inspired for “I’m Just a Jitterbug” are shown here. The cartoon required 12,000 individual drawings, but it takes only seven minutes to show it on the screen.


Grandpa and Grandma Bug act as silly as human beings.
(Dancers are Roy Damron and Snookie Bishop)


The Bugs Get a Lesson in swing from Mary Herron and Jack Conlogue.

“Snookie” Bishop and Roy Damron demonstrate for the bug cartoonists.

This is the Way the bugs do it after Roy and “Snookie” have shown them how.

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And here’s the final version of the cartoon! 
Funny thing is, I don’t see any of the images from the magazine in the cartoon.
“I’m Just a Jitterbug” (1939)

Because I like to see the unedited version myself, I’ve included the complete magazine pages below.


1939 Eagle Rock High School Yearbook

Happy New Year! I hope it’s not too late to say that 🙂 I’ve had some writer’s block lately and haven’t felt like saying much, but then yesterday I received an eBay package that I’m excited to share! I bought a 1939 yearbook from my high school in Eagle Rock, CA (northeast part of Los Angeles). When I was in high school I loved looking through the old yearbooks, and I’m thrilled to have one of my own.

Eagle Rock High School was opened in 1927 and was built in a traditional Spanish style, with tile roofs, arched doorways, and a courtyard. The original buildings were torn down in 1970 and rebuilt (due to earthquake safety standards, I believe), and unfortunately the “new” buildings weren’t nearly as cute. The only original building still remaining is the auditorium.

The ERHS yearbook is called the Totem, as a tribute to the Native Americans who first settled the region. The yearbook still retains this name, I believe.

In this period, the school had 2 graduating classes per year – Winter and Summer. I think they combined the classes in the 40’s? My yearbook has all the Winter classes/clubs/sports at the front, and Summer in the back.
The yearbook is dedicated to the burgeoning city of Los Angeles. It’s fun to look at the pictures of our historical LA landmarks (Hollywood, Los Angeles City Hall, and Griffith Observatory) and think how they were so new back then. I guess they’re still new by most architectural standards, but they feel old to us Angelenos!

Some snapshots of the old school – you can see the courtyard and classrooms, and I think tennis courts?

Winter Class 4-H Club. I think those are classrooms in the background?
This is one of my favorites – this club is standing in front of the auditorium, and you can see the class plaques out front. Every graduating class votes for a Class Name, designs a logo, and raises funds to have a plaque made for the front. It’s nearly full out in front now! Next time I’m driving by the school I should take a picture – it’s quite cool to see how the graphics changed over time.
Of course, there are loads of hair and clothing inspiration in this book, so I will be posting more. (did someone say Stripey Socks? They’re all over!) After I finished scanning I found the book’s original owner – Shirley Martin. She’s quite cute and judging from the inscriptions she was quite popular with the boys!